Planning for Prom
by DryadSpeaks
Summary: Spinoff of All My Dreams chapter 109 and The Smile on Your Face chapter 91.  Quinn and Artie go look at prom dresses, and then head back to A's house to plant the garden.  Appearances by Martin and AJ, as well as Linds and Beth.  :D


"I think they're closed," Artie said, as they approached the door of the dress shop Quinn wanted to go to.

"Artie," she said, grinning at him. "It's not even 4:30. They aren't closed."

"They could be…" he said. "It looks kind of dark in there."

Quinn giggled. "Artie! It does not. Stop it! You said you'd come."

"I'm here, am I not?" he said, grinning at her. "I figure this is the perfect place to pick up hot girls."

She smacked him lightly with her purse, as she pulled open the door to the shop, holding it so he could get inside.

"I meant you," he muttered, as he wheeled through the doorway. "Geez, woman! Pull yourself together!"

She grinned, following him in and pulling the door shut behind her.

They'd barely made it into the store, when they were greeted by the owner of the shop, who introduced herself as Jacqueline. She regarded the pair for a second, thinking to herself how nice it was that a girl had brought what she assumed was her boyfriend with her to look at dresses.

"We just wanted to look at different styles today," Quinn said to her. "I still want my dress to be a surprise…we just want to make sure it'll work for dancing," she explained.

Jacqueline nodded, noticing that Artie looked slightly embarrassed. "If you let me know which ones you'd like to try, I'll find them in your size and take them to one of the rooms in the back," she said, smiling at them.

Quinn thanked her, and they started looking at the dresses.

"You should try this one," Artie said, pointing to the most extravagant dress in the store. It was bright pink, and about seven times as wide as Quinn at the bottom of the skirt.

"Um…no," she said. "First, it's hideous, and second, it will SWALLOW you," she said. "What about this?" she added, holding up a much more appropriate (she felt) yellow dress with ruffles around the skirt.

"I don't want you to actually get one like that if you don't want to," Artie said, pointing at the pink dress. "I just want to see if your theory about me not being able to see is accurate. Do it in the name of science, woman!"

Quinn grinned. "Well, if it's for science…" she trailed off. "How about that one, and this," she said, gesturing to the yellow dress. "And then that one over there, and that one, and that one, and that one," she said, pointing to several more dresses. "Actually, can I just try on all the styles that won't be too tight when I'm sitting?"

Jacqueline nodded, smiling, as she got to work finding the dresses in Quinn's size.

Once she'd found several of the dresses, she led Quinn to one of the spacious change rooms in the back, and helped her try the first dress.

Quinn emerged from the room, and Artie just stared.

"Wow," he muttered. "That dress is even bigger when it's on you."

"Did you just say it makes me look even bigger?" Quinn asked, standing in front of a mirror.

"NO!" he said. "I said the dress is even bigger. That thing is huge. How can you move in that?"

"Easily," she said, walking over to him. "It doesn't weigh very much. I just might not fit through the door."

"Come here," he said, gesturing towards his lap. "Sit."

Once she was across his lap, he burst out laughing. "Ok, so I can still see…however, I seem to have lost my hands in the dress. So…we can't move."

Quinn giggled, putting her hand down her side, feeling around for his hand. "I'm pretty sure it'll never be seen again," she said, quietly.

He grinned. "And even if it is…we still can't move. The dress will get caught, and you'll be sans skirt in less than two seconds."

"Yeah…let's not do that," she said, gently easing herself out of his lap…which proved a lot harder than sitting down.

"Try that one next," he said, pointing to the yellow one she'd picked out first. "It looks promising."

Artie waited, as Jacqueline helped Quinn get the dress on, and when she emerged from the change room, he grinned. "I like it," he said. "I like a lot, actually. Maybe we should wear yellow to prom."

She smiled. "We can't wear yellow to prom," she said, "because we're wearing purple."

She sat down across his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Now," she said. "Move."

"Is that an order?" he said, quietly, moving his hands down. "I can move. Can you look down and see if anything's going to get caught anywhere?"

She leaned forward, looking down around his wheels. "Looks good to me," she said.

He grinned. "I like this one. What else have you got?"

* * *

><p>After trying on about ten dresses, Quinn had an idea of what would work, and what wouldn't. Most of them were ok, except for the couple that had things trailing behind them, which Artie deemed "a trip hazard and an accident waiting to happen for everyone involved."<p>

While she'd been in the change room with Jacqueline, they'd discussed which dresses came in which colours, and her three favourites all came in various shades of purple.

She told the woman she'd be back in with a couple of her friends to find the perfect dress.

When they left the store, Artie insisted that they stop for milkshakes on the way back to his house, so that they could "get their second wind" for planting the garden.

After they'd picked them up, Artie with his usual chocolate, and Quinn with strawberry because she wanted to try something different, they headed in the direction of his house.

"So…which one are you going to get?" he asked. "I think you should get the yellow one. But not yellow, because you don't want that."

Quinn giggled. "I can't tell you, or it'll ruin the surprise," she said. "But that one does come in a couple of colours I liked. You'll just have to wait and see."

"Can you just…buy my shirt once you've got the dress?" he said. "That way, the colour will be a surprise, and the dress will be, and everything will match. Otherwise, I'll end up with the wrong one, and then you'll be mortified."

"Yes, I'll be mortified if the shade isn't EXACTLY THE SAME," she said, holding back the laughter that threatened to burst from her mouth. "What if it doesn't fit?"

"Feel free to look at any of my shirts for sizing info," he said. "Especially the one I'm wearing now. Just tear it off me. But…wait until we've stopped driving. We cannot have an accident because of this."

She grinned. "Yeah, wouldn't want to have to explain that one to your mom," she said, quietly.

Once they were in the driveway, and out of the car, Artie came to a realization. "Are you done? We have to leave these cups in the car. If Linds finds out about this, she will not be impressed."

"I am," Quinn said. "Here, I'll stick them in the back."

"TO THE GARDEN!" Artie proclaimed, throwing his fist into the air. "Or…after dinner," he muttered. "Got a little carried away there."

Quinn giggled, as they made their way to the front door. They barely had it open, when Lindsay came flying out of the living room.

"You're home! You're home! You're home! Can we go to the garden? Now? Can I dig something?"

"Hey Linds," Artie greeted her, as she ran by him and flung herself at Quinn. "It's nice to see you too," he said, raising an eyebrow at her as she turned to look at him from where her face was buried in Quinn's side.

Quinn laughed, as the girl removed her arms from around Quinn and threw herself at her brother.

"That's better," he said, a sly little smirk on his face.

"Jealous much?" Quinn asked, after Lindsay had removed herself from Artie, and had run into the kitchen to announce their arrival.

"Well, there's an order to life," he muttered, half-serious.

Quinn grinned. "I know how much you like order."

He nodded. "Now…to the Batmobile! …I mean…to the dining room!"

* * *

><p>After dinner, Artie, Quinn, Linds, and Beth headed out to the back yard.<p>

Artie had decided that, rather than getting out of his chair and down on the ground to plant the seeds, he could direct Linds and Quinn how to do it. This would serve several purposes. First and foremost, Quinn would not have to be witness to the effort it took to get down there. Second, he could teach Quinn how to plant seeds, because he knew it wasn't something she'd done much of. Third, Linds really wanted to "dig things," and that would give her the opportunity to do that. And fourth, the ground was kind of wet, and not the warmest, and he didn't really want to go find something to put down and something to lean against while he was down there. In his mind, his directing them on how to plant them was a total win-win situation, for everyone involved.

Beth watched, as her son directed Quinn and Linds around the garden plot, smiling at his frantic hand waving when he realized they weren't planting the right thing in the right place. She was about to go over and help, when she loud talking in the house, followed by Michael coming out the door and announcing that "some guys" were there.

Before she could turn around to see who it was, her ears were greeted by a very loud, and very familiar, "Hi, Mrs. A!"

"Hi AJ," she said, turning around. "And Martin. How're things, boys?"

"They're good," AJ said. "We were just stopping by to show Artie pictures of-" He stopped, noticing his friend making very large and exaggerated arm motions behind his mother, which he interpreted as "stop right now."

He coughed. "Sorry, something in my throat. Pictures of my new trumpet case. I'm pretty excited about it, and couldn't really wait to show him tomorrow."

Beth grinned, as Martin's facial expression turned from his usual calm smile to a look of slight exasperation.

"Hi, Mrs. Abrams," he said, as AJ headed in the direction of the garden plot. "Sorry for dropping by like this, I hope you don't mind."

She smiled, opening her arms for a hug from the tall boy. "You know I never mind when you boys show up," she said. "Things going ok?"

He nodded. "Same old," he said. "The garden looks good so far! I can tell the master gardener has been at work. Are those his plans?" he asked, gesturing to a wrinkled piece of paper on the table.

Beth nodded, grinning. "He's directing Quinn and Linds in the art of planting tonight," she said. "We got it ready a couple of days ago."

"I should head over there," Martin said, gesturing with his head. "Before Artie remembers that he banned AJ from the garden after the carrot fiasco last year."

"There's no way he could have known those weren't weeds," Beth said. "I explained that to Artie, but I'm pretty sure he was so annoyed that he didn't even hear me."

Martin grinned. "Yeah…but I have to agree with Artie on part of that…the fact that there were half-grown carrots attached when he pulled them all up should have been a clue of sorts," he said. "Even for AJ."

"At least he replanted them," she said. "And he felt terrible about it."

Martin nodded. "He did." He was about to go on, when he heard Quinn burst out laughing.

"AJ, you're standing in the squash quadrant," Artie was saying. "Please. Stand on the grass. Why do you always have to stand in the dirt?"

"I was just trying to show you," AJ muttered, stepping beside him. "If you'd just move back, I could stand in front of you and we could BOTH be on the grass. Or I could just move you."

"You're not moving me," Artie said, moving his chair back a couple of feet. "Now, let's see."

Martin headed over to them, and Beth headed back into the house to get her camera to take a couple of pictures of everyone in the yard. Lindsay, seeing that her mother was going inside, ran across the yard to go after her.

"Quick," Artie said. "Show me while they're inside."

AJ pulled out his phone, pushing a couple of buttons, before holding it out to Artie.

"Oh my God, they're so cute!" Artie said. "But wait…AJ, these dogs are tiny. I was thinking of something a little bigger. You could fit all of these in your man purse."

"Dude," AJ said. "First, I do not have a man purse. It's called a small messenger bag. And second, they are the perfect size for you to put in your backpack!"

"Yes, but I really don't think it would be too sanitary having a puppy stepping all over my…supplies," Artie muttered. "How big is the mom?"

"Like this," AJ said, holding his arms apart. "And Artie, dude, puppies aren't dirty. Your pencils and stuff aren't going to be unsanitary if a puppy steps on them."

Deciding that it wasn't the best time to fill AJ (and everyone else) in on the contents of his backpack, Artie shrugged. "But if the puppy is in my backpack, I'm not going to be able to cuddle it. So…lap puppy it is. Ok…now that I've seen then I definitely want one."

AJ grinned. "Have you asked your mom about this? Also, I totally want one of the puppies too. My mom is currently thinking about it. That means no. But I'll try. If my grandma gives me one, she won't say anything, because she says it's rude not to accept presents from people."

Artie shook his head. "I'm trying to figure out the best way to approach it," he said. "Can you send me those pictures?"

AJ nodded, punching away at his phone.

Artie was about to say something else, when he heard the familiar clicking of the camera shutter behind them.

"Smile, kids!" Beth said, as Lindsay ran over to join them. "AJ, honey, can you step over about a foot to the left?" she asked. "I'd like to get you all in one picture."

AJ grinned, stepping closer. "You know I never turn down gracing your camera with my presence, Mrs. A," he said.

Once Beth was satisfied that she had enough pictures, she headed back inside to put away the camera.

AJ was about to say something, but Artie motioned to Lindsay, and indicated that he should be quiet.

"Do you need help with the planting?" Martin asked, looking over at the half-planted garden.

"Dude, I'm banned from the garden," AJ cut in. "Remember?"

"Then what are you doing here?" Artie asked. It was clear that he'd forgotten about the ban. It was also clear that he was kidding.

"I promise not to pull anything out or touch anything, ever again," AJ said. "Martin will restrain me if I do. Please don't keep the ban."

Quinn giggled. "I'm sure no one needs to be restrained," she said.

"Clearly you haven't seen AJ in the garden," Artie muttered, while Martin chuckled beside him. "Last year he pulled up all my carrots because he thought they were weeds. Then he replanted them. In the wrong spot. And half of them died, and the other half were deformed."

Quinn and Martin burst out laughing, while AJ looked slightly embarrassed. "Dude, I didn't know that's what carrots look like when they're not ready to eat," he muttered. "I don't know these things!"

"AJ, you can help me," Linds said. "You can hold this, while I plant them," she added, handing him a package of seeds.

Seemingly content with the activity, AJ moved over to where Linds was crouched next to the garden, holding the package and pouring seeds into her hand, a few at a time.

After Quinn went to join them, Artie turned to Martin. "So…prom. Are you going?"

Martin shrugged. "There really isn't a point, is there? I mean…not like I have a date. I heard the other day that Puckerman asked Rachel to go 'as friends.' AJ and I will probably do something that night. Much like we do almost every night. You guys going?"

Artie nodded. "We're wearing purple. And matching. We went to look at dresses today because Q wanted to make sure the one she gets won't cause chair problems when we're dancing."

Martin grinned. "She's so thoughtful," he said.

"Or she just doesn't want to be embarrassed when something gets caught and she ends up in half a dress," Artie said.

"Yeah, but if that did happen, she'd just go with it," Martin said. "Or, at least…she wouldn't blame you."

Artie nodded again, glancing over to see AJ approaching them.

"Your sister just told me it works better without me," he said. "But don't worry, I'm not mad…it was kind of boring, just standing there."

Artie and Martin chuckled.

"Are you going to prom?" Artie asked him, wheeling closer to the picnic table so the other two would sit down.

AJ shook his head. And then his facial expression. He suddenly looked like he was going to burst with excitement.

"Dude," he said to Martin. "I have an idea. Will you be my date for prom? But, like…not an actual date. Like a man date."

"A…man date?" Martin asked, trying to hide the amusement on his face. "So, it's not a date, but a man date is ok?"

"Like not an actual date," AJ explained. "We could go together as bros. I'll even dance with you if you want. We could get matching tuxes."

Artie bit his lip to contain the laughter that was threatening to burst from his mouth.

Martin raised an eyebrow. "So…it's not a date, but you want to dance, and you want us to match?"

Artie couldn't contain himself any longer, and burst out laughing.

"It will be GREAT," AJ said. "We can both go to prom, have a good time, and see Artie in his pink tux."

"We're wearing purple, and I'm wearing a black tux," Artie said. "And you guys should go. I'm sure guys go with each other all the time. Or…I know John and Brandon went together last year."

Martin nodded. "That could work," he said. "Unless either one of us finds a date before then."

"If you tell me right now that you want to go with me, I will say no if any girl asks me," AJ said. "Seriously. Bros before…ladies."

Artie grinned. "You guys are great. Oh…" he went on. "They're done planting. I have to go start the next phase of the operation."

"Yeah, we have to get going anyway," Martin said. "My mom is expecting us to help her move the couch," he added. "Not that I can't move it by myself, but apparently it's a two-person job to ensure no one gets hurt."

"Ok," Artie said, nodding. "I'll talk to Quinn, but maybe we could all go to prom together?"

"YES!" AJ said, a little louder than he'd intended. "I mean…ok."

Martin grinned. "Ok, man. Later?"

Artie nodded. "Later."

Once they'd turned to leave the back yard, he headed over to the garden plot.

"Ok, so next we have to plant the pumpkins," he said, handing a package of seeds to Lindsay. "From there to there," he added, pointing.

"Did I just hear AJ ask Martin to prom?" Quinn asked.

Artie nodded. "I was thinking…would it be ok with you if they went with us, and we went as some sort of foursome where they're not dating, because they're not, and then we're there?"

Quinn giggled at his description. "We could do that if you like," she said, stepping over to him. "But only if we can go to dinner alone some other night and I can ravish you in the car afterwards," she added, whispering in his ear.

His face reddened, as he leaned forward to whisper back. "Ok. That'll probably work better when you're not wearing a fancy dress, anyway."

Quinn grinned. "Now…should we finish up this planting so we can get inside and watch a movie or something?"

He nodded. "Yeah, we'd better get back to it. Hey, Linds," he called out to the small girl, who had become distracted by a worm she'd found in the garden. "Ready to finish up?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Corresponds with **_**All My Dreams**_** chapter 109, and **_**The Smile on Your Face**_** chapter 91.**

**Remember…if there's anything you'd like to see in upcoming chapters of either of those, or as a oneshot, please let me know in a review or a message! :)**


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